Tl;dr – A breezy review of a recent trip I took to wine country featuring a few premium cabin flights.
To kick off May, I took a week-long trip to a few wine regions – Walla Walla, Washington, and Lodi, CA, with a few day-long pit stop in the Bay Area. My itinerary for this journey included a few premium cabin experiences on some regional flights. Here’s a rehash of some of the highlights:
SJO – DFW – American Business
I originated in San Jose, Costa Rica, and the first part of my journey to Walla Walla, WA, called for a stop in Dallas, Texas (DFW). This flight was one leg of an entirely business-class itinerary that I booked from SJO-DFW-SEA-PSC (I’d make a small change to the last leg of this transit). I redeemed 55,000 AAdvantage miles and $130.60 in taxes and fees for two business class seats throughout the journey, which was a solid deal.
My flight to Dallas departed just before midnight, at 11:59, so I had to ensure I got my carriage back to the rental car facility before it turned into a chayote before midnight. See that right there? That’s a Disney joke that incorporates the local flora of Central Latin America. Yup, go ahead and hit that subscribe button.
This flight was operated by a Boeing 737, featuring four rows of four business-class recliner seats, two seats on each side of the plane per row. The flight called for refreshment service, though it was never attempted, which I didn’t care too much about. Just after takeoff, the cabin lights were dimmed and everyone fell asleep, including me.
Nothing at all to write home about, though I did catch enough Zs to power me up for the rest of the journey.
DFW (Dallas) – SEA (Seattle) – American Business
For this leg, I swapped out Boeing for Airbus, though the A321 has virtually the same business class layout – four rows of standard recliner seats, two on each side of the plane.
Even harnessing the power of Global Entry, I knew the connection time would be tight, likely not allowing for popping into a lounge. As this leg of the trip included breakfast service, I pre-ordered our breakfast meals (as soon as the window to do so opened). We both went with a simple bagel breakfast, including lox, tomato, capers, boiled eggs, sliced onions, and some fruit on the side. It was decent – good to put ‘something in the belly’ more than anything else.
SEA (Seattle) – ALW (Walla Walla) – Alaska Economy
This is where things changed a bit. Our original itinerary had us flying into Pasco Tri-Cities, about a 50-minute drive from Walla Walla. The drive wasn’t so much the issue; it was the layover. The Pasco flight wasn’t scheduled to depart until late afternoon, meaning we’d have to hang out at SeaTac for the better part of the day, missing out on precious tasting time. Accordingly, as I was unable to change the reservation to select an earlier flight, I ended up booking a separate flight directly to Walla Walla (ALW) that departed only about two and half hours after we landed in Seattle, giving us enough time to visit a lounge, do some light work and then head to the gate. As there are only two flights a day to Walla Walla (I’m writing a separate piece on this), this flight was in high demand, and I decided to book economy seats on points, as the premium cabin pricing was pretty outrageous for a 30-minute flight. The flight itself was a classic up and down, and you’re treated to views of the Blue Mountains in the distance, as you sweep over vineyards during your descent.
GEG (Spokane) – SFO (San Francisco) – Alaska Business
After a few fun days of wine tasting in Walla Walla, WA, we departed for the Bay Area. Walla Walla’s sole destination is Seattle, and while Pasco does service the Bay Area, there wasn’t good availability for redemptions on our day of departure. We had rented a vehicle to get around Walla Walla, so we decided to change the return location to Spokane (about 2.5 hours away) and fly out of there. Changing the return location dropped the rental price, which covered the cost of the gas on the trip.
I initially booked economy seats on this flight but accepted a paid upgrade offer in my Alaska account to first class. Horizon Air operated this Spokane-San Francisco route using an Embraer ERJ 175 which features 12 first-class seats in a 1-2 format.
As we didn’t have time to stop for lunch on the drive and there aren’t many dining options in Spokane’s airport, I was happy I pre-ordered selections from the first-class menu.
I went with the Mediterranean chicken salad, and Mrs. Blackbeard went with the black bean burger. The salad punched above its weight, and while she reported it being decent, the burger, bizarrely, came with no other condiments except for mayo, which is worse than no condiments. (Mayo is gross, and no, I don’t want to hear it.)
I also enjoyed a glass of sparkling wine (I obviously didn’t have enough while tasting wine the last few days) and a cup of coffee as I pointed out that we were passing over Crater Lake.
A little bit later in the flight, the friendly flight attendant servicing the first class cabin also pointed out Mt. Shasta.
All in all, it was a solid, quick flight. Also, though I’m not a huge snacker, these brownie cookie? Cracker? Biscotti-things? were solid.
SMF (Sacramento) – LAX (Los Angeles) – Delta Business
After spending a few days in the Bay Area and one afternoon tasting more wine in Lodi, we flew from Sacramento to Los Angeles to position for our flight to San Jose, Costa Rica. I booked this flight through Virgin Atlantic, using a small amount of points left over from a previous long-haul redemption. Operated by SkyWest Airlines, we flew onboard another Embraer 175, with the 1-2 seating layout.
I swear these little regional Embraer jets are where you find the best service. And it makes sense. The flight teams have known routes, planes aren’t huge, and aisles are tiny and don’t lend themselves to passengers doing wild things. It feels like so much less of a headache, and imagine that’s why you find happier flight teams onboard them. At any measure, the gentleman who took care of the first-class cabin was great and poured heavy pre-departure drinks.
The gentleman sitting in front of me must have also thought this to be the case, as the cabin erupted in laughter when he enthusiastically declined a second round.
There was no meal service on this small jet, but you were offered a selection of snacks, such as pretzels and cookie squares.
LAX – SJO – Alaska Premium Economy
For the last leg of this journey – to San Jose, Costa Rica, I booked premium economy tickets on board a Boeing 737. There was no award space for business class, and as Alaska was trying to dogwalk folks with the cash prices for business class (in my opinion), I opted to redeem for premium economy. The economy cabin features a 3 and 3 layout, and it initially appeared as though we’d have the row to ourselves, but as the flight was quite full, that was not the case. Not a lot to report on this one. I spent roughly six hours on my laptop, writing and doing work. We had planned to bring some dinner onboard, but ended up just making a meal of the offerings in the Alaska Lounge in Terminal 6 of LAX. While there was nothing awful about this experience, I’m not sure I felt there was anything premium about it as well – I’d honestly have been just fine in economy,
And, scene.
